Coming Out of Darkness
God now has us in a position where most of us are so fed up with what we know has not worked for us, that we are ready to receive some truth and some understanding which goes beyond what we have perceived in the past.
When Paul wrote this passage in Ephesians 4:17-18, he had already given the Ephesians an almost entire view of God’s plan, His will, and His purposes for them, and that is why he used the word “therefore.” “Because of all of this that I have shown you, therefore don’t be like the gentiles.
Don’t be like the unbelievers.”
And most of us do not realize that we can be a believer for many years, and still in our mind and in our understanding be like an unbeliever!
We can know everything there is to know, we think, about the Word of God. We have walked and sought after God for years, and because of that we do not realize that we are in this condition of being like a gentile, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God that is in us.
What does Paul mean by being “alienated from the life of God”?
We need to have an understanding that there are only two sources of life in the universe. We receive our life source from our human carnal consciousness, which is separated from the life of God, or from Christ who is one with God.
Most Christians still are receiving their life source unknowingly from the natural or carnal man.
They have never learned how to contact and live by the Spirit of Christ within them.
Being “alienated from the life” simply means that I do not have an understanding that my Father and I are One. I have been alienated; my mind is darkened to the understanding that God and man are One.
Having their understanding darkened, being alienated …
There is still much teaching prevailing in the Church today about “the great falling away”. I hear it on TV; I hear it wherever I go. I hear about the “great falling away” and “the man of sin who is soon to be revealed.”
The “falling away” that the Apostle talked about began even in Paul’s lifetime, but it took root in the second century and has gone deeper and deeper into darkness for the last two thousand years.
If you go back to chapter 1 of Ephesians and read up to the point of the word “therefore” in chapter 4, you will see that Paul had revealed to them first of all that they were chosen in God.
Most still do not realize that we are chosen in God.
The religious Gospel has made that not God’s choice, but man’s choice, because the religious Gospel says, “You were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, because He knew there would come a day when you would choose Him; therefore, because He foreknew that you were going to do that, He chose you.”
Well then, whose choice is it?
If God chose you before the foundation of the world, that you should be holy and without blame before Him in love, THAT IS HIS CHOICE!
Oh, we must get the Church to see this!
It is going to happen. You are going to come to a point in your experience where you will fully reveal and manifest to the world the glory of God.
It is guaranteed, because God chose it to be so.
And the reason that we do not experience it is because of the darkness, the alienation from the life of God that is in us because of the blindness of our heart.
We are all in darkness to an extent. We have been taught ignorance in the Church for two thousand years. The Gospel that Paul preached when he was alive has been almost totally annihilated from the Christian’s mind, and we have been taught things exactly opposite from what he taught and believed.
Being alienated …
Think of that!
Here we are. We are one with God. In the very essence of our being is the God of the Universe, yet in our minds we are alienated from that life that is in us, because of the blindness that is on our eyes and on our heart.
The good news is that we are in the dawning of the new day. God is beginning to lift the veil and to bring His seekers out of darkness.
Understanding God’s Omnipresence
If only we would understand some of the theological expressions that the Church has.
Doctrines like omnipresence and omnipotence and omniscience.
Do you know what “omnipresence” means?
means? I am sure you do, but let us look at it.
Omnipresence means that God is everywhere, and there is nowhere that God is not.
That is literally what the word means.
If God is truly omnipresent, there is no space in the universe where God is not, because His presence is all-pervading.
Now if that is true, what about that man on his death-bed who has never acknowledged Christ?
If God is not in that man who is not acknowledging Him, THEN GOD IS NOT OMNIPRESENT — there is one place in this universe where He is not, and that is in that man.
The Church needs to examine some of the things they themselves have taught in the past.
Because of the blindness that is on our hearts, we are alienated from the life of God that is in us.
Experiencing Heavenly Places
Paul said that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. He said you have been SEATED WITH CHRIST in heavenly places.
Why do we not experience that?
It is because of the blindness. We have become alienated from the life of God that is within us.
We don’t even know where “heavenly places” are.
Heavenly places means A CONSCIOUS AWARENESS OF THE REALITY OF BEING ONE WITH GOD.
There are at least three levels of consciousness in this realm: one is body-conscious, one is soul-conscious, and one is spirit-conscious.
Many people are merely body-conscious; many people are just soul-conscious; and a few of us are beginning to become spirit-conscious.
That means that when our mind is unveiled, and when our eyes become unveiled to the reality of the revelation that Paul gave to the Church in its very beginning, WE WILL WALK IN A CONSCIOUS AWARENESS OF CHRIST LIVING THROUGH US.
You see, the “Great Falling Away” began during Paul’s day and has continued right up until today
We won’t have to try to do it, Christ will just flow from our innermost being. For that to happen we have to begin to have our concepts changed, because the God that has been presented to us in Christianity has been presented in a way that has given us a false concept of Him.
And that is nothing new, because Jesus had to fight that same battle when He was here. He said, “It has been written in your very own law, but I say to you …”
There is something wrong with some of the concepts that we pick up from the scriptures.
Our concepts have to be changed.
Stay Tuned…